A little while back, a beis din ruled on a divorce case in which the kesuba was not present and had been written 40 years or so earlier, in a currency that no longer exists. The sum of money promised in the kesuba was under dispute, and the beis din ruled the husband had to pay 500,000 NIS to the [ex-]wife.
The husband has now appealed the ruling of the beis din. He claims that the amount in the original kesuba was 2000 lira, but had been altered using white-out and changed to say 152,000 lira, a sum that was 8 times the value of their apartment at the time.
Relying on the photocopy to determine the sum stating they accept that the kesuba was lost, when the wife only claimed she had not brought it with her and had left it at home (RG: why didn't they send her home to bring it it? or, why didn't they rule against her for refusing to bring the kesuba when she wanted to claim the value wriiten within?), along with the fact that they never called the witnesses to attempt to verify the value of the kesuba (RG: why would they remember the value of a kesuba from 40 years earlier?), nor did they appoint any expert investigator to determine if the kesuba had been altered or not, along with some other arguments, makes the ruling unacceptable.
Furthermore, the husband's lawyer claims, the husband had worked and paid for the apartment in full, while the wife did not work at all. As well, all that he has now in his old age is this apartment that he worked very hard for, and has nothing else to live off, and she should not be able to take his apartment away from him.
The husband demands in his appeal that the original ruling should be completely voided, that he does not owe her any severance because she forged the amount in the kesuba, and the original sum should not be linked to inflation or any other linkage.
The one thing he is willing to offer is that instead of determining the original kesuba to be 2000 lira, as he says it is, he should be told to pay a maximum of 12,000 lira which is the amount required to live on for a year.
(source: Bechadrei)
If he is using the current Turkish lira when he demands to be told to pay the kesuba in lira, then it is worth 24,705 NIS.
If he is referring to 12,000 of the original Israeli lira, then that is worth today 1,200 old Israeli shekel, which is worth today 1.2 NIS.
Even using the Turkish lira it is difficult to see that amount as enough to live on for a year, but maybe under certain conditions it is doable. Using the Israeli lira, it is not even enough for a stick of bubble gum.
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Religion Magazine
